ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Oil India Ltd. (OIL), on Tuesday, paid $2.475 billion to Videocon Group for acquiring 10 per cent stake in a giant gas field off Mozambique.
For stake in Mozambique asset According to Petroleum Ministry sources, the payments for Videocon were made today (Tuesday), and those to Anadarko Petroleum would be made by the end of February.
OVL had bought an additional 10 per cent stake from the U.S. energy major Anadarko in the same block for $2.64 billion. OVL and OIL had jointly bought Videocon Group’s 10 per cent interest in the Rovuma Area-1 for $2.475 billion.
OVL raised about $1.5 billion in one-year bridge loans from foreign lenders to fund its part of the payment to Videocon while OIL raised $900 million in debt for its share.
Source said OVL would raise another $2.6 billion to fund the Anadarko payments. Videocon had initially sought around $2.8 billion for the 10 per cent stake in the block that was is estimated to hold a minimum of 35 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves.
A unit of Bharat Petroleum Corporation already has a 10 per cent stake in the block, estimated to hold a maximum of 65 tcf gas reserves.
